Attenuating Light and the Choreographic in Breaking New Ground, Doctoral College Conference

The artistic and affective relationship of light and the performing body has gained recent scholarly attention in the fields of scenography (Abufalia, Moran, Palmer) and digital technologies (Salter, Sutil). Similarly, significant critical analysis through both feminist (Albright) and Modernist lenses (Garelick) has been given to the revolutionary light dance performances of Loie Fuller (18621928). Distinctly, from the perspective of the choreographing dancer, ‘Attenuating Light and the Choreographic’ sits within my PhD practice research that explores the transformative encounters and perceptual disturbances that are available in the intensification and attenuation of lighting scapes. The conceptual developments grounding my work recognize that we live in a world of ever-increasing luminescence, argued by philosopher Paul Virilio as “an artificial condition of paradoxical wakefulness” (2009:51), which alters the ways in which we think and respond to light. Within this context, my research suggests how choreographies created through sensitized approaches to lighting allow for a re-attunement of our relationship with light. Through generating experiences of dazzling and attenuation in dance performance, I offer a space where these nuances may be felt and critiqued. My research contributes to the current political debate that is witnessing an increased regulation on the use of Tungsten halogen lighting. Framed as an ‘eco-political gesture’, the imminent implementation of new legislation aimed specifically at theatre and performance environments is marking a critical moment in the history of theatre lighting. It is, therefore, with a sense of urgency that my research wishes to speak of the copoiesis of lighting and the choreographic.